


Fear

by xtremeroswellian



Series: Before I Knew You [13]
Category: Roswell (TV 1999)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Healing, Spoilers for the pilot episode of Roswell, Violence, alien stuff, gunshot wound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:40:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23815537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: "I want the money today! Not tomorrow!" the man shouted, standing up. The man sitting across from him stood up as well, and the other man drew a gun.There were screams from throughout the cafe, as people dropped to the floor. Liz's eyes widened in horror as they locked on the gun. She couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't breathe.
Relationships: Liz Parker & Alex Whitman, Liz Parker & Maria DeLuca, Liz Parker & Max Evans, Liz Parker/Kyle Valenti, Liz Parker/Max Evans
Series: Before I Knew You [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1714129
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The dialogue you recognize isn't mine, obviously.

"But I fear  
I have nothing to give  
I have so much to lose  
Here in this lonely place  
Tangled up in our embrace  
There's nothing I'd like better  
Than to fall  
But I fear  
I have nothing to give..."

-Sarah McLachlan, "Fear"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay, I have got one Sigourney Weaver, that's for you. And one Will Smith. Can I get you guys anything else? Green Martian shake? Blood of alien smoothie?" Liz asked the two tourists at her table.

"No, thanks. We're good," Larry replied.

Liz looked at them for a moment. "Are you guys here for the Crash Festival?"

"Yeah, can't wait!" Jennifer exclaimed. She narrowed her eyes and studied Liz carefully. "So...does your family come from Roswell?"

Liz bit back the urge to grin. She just loved anxious tourists. "Just four generations," she replied matter-of-factly.

"Uh, well, does anyone in your family have stories about the UFO crash?" Larry asked, peering at her through his dark-lined glasses.

Liz stifled the urge to laugh. She pulled a photo out of her apron and held it out for them. "Well, I guess it would be okay to show you guys this," she said slowly. Maria leaned over their shoulders for a moment, looking at the photograph and shaking her head at Liz, grinning. Liz fought the urge to grin back. Some tourists were so gullible.

She turned her attention back to Larry and Jennifer. "My grandmother took this picture at the crash sight right before the government cleaned it up."

"Do people know about this photograph?" Jennifer demanded, looking from the picture to Liz.

"Well, I know about it...and now, you know about it."

"Whoa!" Jennifer exclaimed.

"Wow!" Larry said in awe.

That was it. Liz couldn't take anymore. "I'll be right back. Don't show that to anyone," she warned them. Man, if her dad caught her right now, she'd be in trouble.

"No..." Jennifer agreed.

She walked around to the counter, meeting Maria on the way back. Maria shook her head with a wide grin on her face. "You are sooo bad, girl. Oh, and Max Evans is staring at you again."

Liz's eyes widened. Max was here and she hadn't noticed? "No way! Maria, that is so in your imagination." Maria had been trying to convince her for the past month that Max had a crush on her.

Liz turned to look over where Max was sitting with his best friend, Michael Guerin. Max met her gaze for a very brief second, and then turned his attention back to Michael. "Max Evans?" Liz repeated, turning back to Maria and throwing her thumb towards the mysterious sophomore. Then she pointed to herself. "This? No, un-uh...it's not..."

Maria smiled and pinched her cheeks. "And with those cheeks...." Maria rattled off something in Spanish that Liz didn't understand.

"Maria!" she exclaimed, shaking her head. She leaned against the counter for a moment. "And, and even if it weren't, I'm going out with Kyle. I mean, he's steady and loyal...and he appreciates me." Okay, so maybe it wasn't completely true, but it sounded good.

"Sounds like you're describing a poodle," Maria commented, grabbing two plates of food and heading back to the floor.

Liz stared after her for a moment, sighing.

"You ask me to give you another day? You're running out of time!" an angry voice shouted from a table. Liz looked up in time to see several dishes fly off his table and shatter on the floor.

"Liz!" Maria screamed.

"I want the money today! Not tomorrow!" the man shouted, standing up. The man sitting across from him stood up as well, and the other man drew a gun.

There were screams from throughout the cafe, as people dropped to the floor. Liz's eyes widened in horror as they locked on the gun. She couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't breathe.

Oh, my God! she thought. A shot exploded through the air. Liz felt a searing pain in her stomach, but she couldn't cry out, couldn't scream. She hit the floor hard and felt warmth soaking into her uniform. Blood.

I'm going to die, she realized, her heart racing.

Visions of Maria, Alex, her grandmother Claudia and her parents flashed through her mind. Then everything grew dark.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Max sucked in a breath. Jesus! He glanced at the other customers and then to the men, who took off out the door of the cafe.

He saw Maria crawling on her hands and knees on the floor, looking towards the counter. "Liz!" she cried, her voice cracking.

Max moved his eyes to see where she was looking. Liz was lying on the floor, partially hidden behind the counter. His heart nearly thumped out of his chest as he pushed himself off the booth seat and stood up. Michael grabbed his arm. He glared at him. "What are you doing? Let go of me!" he commanded.

Michael shook his head. "Max, what are you gonna do?" he demanded.

Max jerked his arm away from him. Maria had gotten to her feet, as well, and was hurrying towards the counter. Max grabbed her shoulders and shoved her away. "Call an ambulance!"

He moved around the counter and looked down at her in horror. She was unconscious, a blood stain growing on her waitress uniform. He quickly knelt down beside her and grasped the buttons of her uniform, tearing it open. "Oh...It's gonna be okay," he whispered to her.

I won't let you die, he thought.

"Oh, my God!" he heard someone exclaim.

He turned to look in time to see Michael grab the blond tourist and her boyfriend and shove them behind him. "Hey, get back!" he shouted.

Max turned back to Liz. He put one hand under her head, and said softly, "Liz! Liz, you have to look at me."

Her eyes opened slightly--just enough. Max placed his hand over the gunshot wound in her stomach.

Images burst in his mind.

Liz, a young child, wearing a red cupcake dress, looking miserable.

Liz, jumping rope with a friend.

Liz, playing a game with Maria in front of Roswell Elementary.

He and Isabel, stepping off the bus hand-in-hand the first day of school.

Max and Liz staring at one another a moment later.

The images stopped and he blinked, breathing in deeply. He looked down at her stomach. The wound was gone, but the blood still stained her stomach and uniform.

She'saliveshe'saliveshe'saliveshe'saliveshe'saliveshe'saliveshe'saliveshe'saliveshe'salive...

Max drew in another deep breath and then looked into her eyes. He leaned closer, he could literally feel her terror. Their eyes locked. "You're all right now," Max whispered, staring into her deep brown eyes. He could feel her trembling beneath him. "You're all right," he repeated in a soothing voice.

"Keys! Now!" Michael shouted from behind him.

Max blinked in awareness, reached into his jeans pockets and tossed the keys to Michael, who took off out of the cafe.

Max thought quickly and reached up to the shelf just above Liz's head. He grabbed the bottle of ketchup there, broke it open and poured it on her dress and stomach. "You broke the bottle when you fell. You spilled ketchup on yourself. Don't say anything, please," he urged quietly, rising to his feet and backing away.

Liz stared after him, grabbing her uniform closed and stood up. He reached the exit of the Crashdown and turned to look one last night, needing the last bit of reassurance that she was all right. Their eyes locked once again, briefly. Then he pushed the door open and hopped into the passenger side of the jeep as Michael pulled up. Then he was gone.

"Are you okay?" Maria asked, her voice shaking.

Liz blinked, swallowed hard, tried to think. Max had saved her somehow. She'd been shot, she had almost died, but Max brought her back. The gunshot wound was gone. The pain had disappeared. But how?

"Liz?" Maria repeated fearfully.

She drew in a deep breath. Max's voice echoed in her head. "Don't say anything, please!" He'd sounded so urgent. "I'm okay," she said finally, looking at Maria with what she hoped was a convincing facade. "I just..." She glanced back over to where she'd been lying on the ground seconds ago, and saw the broken ketchup bottle and red stains on the floor. "I broke a bottle of ketchup on myself," she said, motioning to the bottle.

"Oh, thank God!" Maria hugged her, not caring if her uniform got ketchup stains on it or not.

Liz hugged her back, grateful to be leaning against her for support. She wasn't sure she'd be able to stand on her own feet alone right then.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Liz was relieved when she'd finally escaped to her bedroom an hour later. She walked over to the mirror. She stared down at her stained uniform. Thank God no one had looked closely. Because you could definitely make out traces of blood under the blobs of ketchup.

She swallowed hard as she reached down and ran her index finger through the hole in her dress. The bullet hole, she thought. She shuddered and quickly pulled the uniform off. What was she going to do with it? It was stained in blood, ketchup and had a bullet hole in it...if anyone saw it, they'd put two and two together and realize she had been shot.

But how was that even possible? How could Max heal a bullet wound? She spotted her book bag on her bed and quickly stuffed the dress inside. Then she walked slowly over to the mirror, her hands resting on her stomach. When she moved them, her eyes widened. There was a silver hand print on her abdomen. She gasped and turned away from the mirror.

"I'm just seeing things. I'm losing my mind," she said aloud. She turned around and looked in the mirror again. The print was still there.

I got shot today. I almost died, she thought, suddenly overwhelmed by nausea. She backed into her bathroom just in time to raise the toiliet seat before she got sick.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Max lay awake that night, terror gripping him. He thought about what he had done, he thought about how Liz had almost died...and he shuddered.

Michael had freaked out, as expected. He yelled all kinds of obscenities at him before he went home that evening. Thank God Isabel hadn't been home.

Isabel.

How was he going to explain this to her? She'd be furious. Izzy didn't usually lose her cool unless something really bad happened, but Max was pretty sure this qualified as something big.

"What if she tells someone? What if someone saw?" Michael had shouted.

"She won't tell anyone, Michael. And you pushed everyone back, no one saw anything," Max had replied, trying to remain calm.

Staying calm was hard to do when someone you loved was nearly killed. Max focused his thoughts on Liz.

He wondered if she was okay. Of course she's not okay. She nearly died today. Hell, I'm not even okay, and I'm not the one who got shot, he thought.

Right now he wasn't worried about her telling anyone else. If she had told someone, the police would have shown up by now, so Max was positive she'd done as he'd asked.

He dreaded the next day. Liz was his lab partner. She would be there in class, he knew that without a second thought. She never missed class unless she was really ill. She was going to have questions...A lot of them.

Max rolled onto his side and stared at the clock which read 10:13. He blinked and stared into the darkness of his room. He'd known for awhile now that he was going to tell her the truth about who he was one day, he just didn't expect it to happen this soon.

An image of Liz, lying on the floor of the Crashdown, pale, unconscious and near-death flashed into his mind and he sat straight up in bed, feeling ill.

"She's okay," he whispered aloud to himself.

And for the first time in his entire life, Max was thankful that he wasn't just an average teenage boy.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Liz tried to focus on what Ms. Hardy was saying that morning in biology, but she couldn't do it. The only thing running through her mind was that Max hadn't shown up to class yet. What did that mean? Had he run away? Was he avoiding her? She needed to see him more than anything else. She needed to look at him, to see that he was alive, just to confirm that she really was, too.

Liz blinked and acted like she was paying attention as her biology teacher explained the lab they'd be doing that day. Her heart was aching. Where is he? she wondered, pained.

She'd lain awake all night last night, unable to erase the image of Max kneeling over her, the feel of his hand on her stomach, the sound of his voice as he told her that she was all right. He'd leaned in so closely to her for a moment, that Liz thought he was going to kiss her. She blinked and snapped back to attention when the door to the biology room opened.

Liz whirled around in her seat to see him. Thank God! she thought, swallowing hard. He met her gaze, but only for a second. He stuck a pencil in his mouth and sat down beside her, flipping through his biology text book.

"Mr. Evans, so nice of you to join us," Ms. Hardy commented, giving him a dirty look. Max looked away. "Okay, everyone on the right prepare a slide with the vegetable sampling, everyone on the left, take a toothpick and get a sample from your cheek."

Max froze for a moment. He swallowed hard again and shifted his eyes to look at Liz, who was also frozen. Then he took the pencil out of his mouth, set it down on the lab table and stood up.

"Mr. Evans?" Ms. Hardy questioned.

"Could I get a bathroom pass?"

Liz stared at him, unmoving.

"High maintenance today, aren't we?" Ms. Hardy commented as she handed him the slip of cardboard and Max took off out the door.

Liz closed her eyes for a brief moment and then took the toothpick Ms. Hardy handed her. She swabbed the inside of her cheek with it and brushed it onto the slide as Ms. Hardy continued talking. "It's very easy to look on the outside and say what differentiates humans from other species. But what about what's on the inside? Everyone, look at the human cells and describe everything you see on your lab sheet."

Liz looked through the microscope at her cells. Then she backed away from it, her gaze dropping to Max's pencil. She swallowed hard, feeling like what she was about to do was an incredible invasion of privacy. She reached for the pencil and scraped it against a slide. Then she looked through the microscope at Max's cells. Her eyes widened.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Never in her life had Liz Parker been so grateful for a class to be over with. She raced from the room out into the hallway. She spotted Max just a few feet in front of her. "Max! Max!" she said loudly. He didn't turn around. She pushed her way through the flood of students. "Excuse me, excuse me!" She finally caught up to him. "Max!" She grabbed his arm gently. "I have to talk to you!"

Max swallowed hard and glanced down at her hand on his arm. Then he followed her into the bandroom. He saw a figure in the back of the room beating on the drums.

"Kyle!" Liz exclaimed. She took a deep breath as he turned around to see her.

"Hey!"

"Hey!" she repeated, hoping her voice didn't sound half as nervous as she felt.

"Hey, Max," Kyle said coolly.

"Hey," Max said, shifting uncomfortably.

"So'd you get my message?" Kyle asked, stepping towards her.

"Oh...Yeah, I did. I was, uh, just a little..."

"Shaken up?"

Liz nodded and forced a smile. "That's what I was."

Kyle glanced past her to Max. "I know. My dad told me about the gun going off. You okay?"

"Oh, yeah, I am. It was just loud and then it was over," Liz lied.

"So you guys are--?" he questioned.

"Um, we're looking for a place...to study...for our bio midterm," she answered, nodding.

"Oh. Right. Right, okay, biology. All right. I was leaving anyway," Kyle said as he walked toward the door. Max moved out of his way, and walked to the other side of the room.

"Great. Um, that's good," Liz replied.

Suddenly, Kyle spun around to face her. "Oh, I got my costume for the Crash this Friday. It's great--"

Just leave, she thought in frustration. She had to shut him up. She needed to talk to Max, and one look at him told her that he was already very uncomfortable. "Kyle, we've got to study," she interrupted him. "Sorry."

"Right. See ya, Max."

Max just nodded as Kyle left the room, leaving him and Liz alone together. "So...You're going out with the Sheriff's son?" he said quietly.

Liz heard something in his voice...hurt? Disappointment? She wasn't sure, but she didn't want him to think that she and Kyle were serious or something. "Um, yeah. Well, it's kind of like this...this casual...." Liz shook herself mentally. This was all wrong. They were getting way off track here. She took a deep breath and turned to face him. "Okay, Max, can we just focus here for one minute, please?"

Max nodded and set his books down on a stool. When he looked at her again, Liz was sliding her shirt up her stomach. He froze, his breath caught in his throat, his eyes wide. What was she doing? That was when he saw it. A single, silver hand print on the flat, smooth skin of her abdomen. "Wow," he whispered. That had never happened before. Of course, the only other healing he had done was on were just minor things, like cuts and bruises.

"Um, I-I scraped some cells from your pencil. This is really hard to say," Liz said softly, setting her books and bookbag down on a desk. "I'm trying very hard to keep from blacking out here. Um, the cells weren't normal. So, Max, what I'm going to suggest to you is that we just go back to the bio lab now, so that I can take a sample so that I can see what I'm thinking is wrong, you know? That I got the wrong cells."

Max looked up, met her eyes. "You didn't."

Liz swallowed hard. "Okay. Um, so...help me out here, Max. I mean...What are you?" She stared at him, her heart pounding so fast she felt like it might explode.

"Well, I'm not from around here," Max said softly.

She nodded slightly, her gaze unwavering. "Where are you from?"

This is it, he thought. He met her gaze slowly and raised his index finger, pointing skyward.

Liz watched as he did so, his entire presence being illuminated by the sun beams from the sky lights above him. It was almost like he was...glowing...like an angel. "Up north," she said.

Max pointed higher and Liz's eyes followed in the direction he was pointing. She suddenly remembered just a couple weeks ago, when they'd been on that biology camp out under the stars, observing constellations.

_"What if...someone you'd known for a really long time told you this huge secret that this person hadn't told anyone else?"_

_Her eyebrows furrowed. "I'm not sure I know what you mean."_

_"I mean, say this secret was like, really huge. Something that could change everything--the way you saw the person. What would you do if you found out that someone you thought you knew was really completely different than who you thought they were?"_

_Liz swallowed hard._

_"Do you ever wonder if there's something else out there?" he had ventured carefully._

_"Like--?"_

_"I don't know. Aliens or something."_

It all fell into place. His cells were different. He'd healed a gunshot wound that she would certainly have died from. Liz knew the truth without asking. But she did it anyway. "You're not an...an alien...I mean, are you?"

"Well, I prefer the term not of this earth." Liz's eyes widened and when he saw her reaction, he quickly added, "Sorry. It's not a good time to joke." He swallowed hard and met her gaze again. "Yeah, I am. Wow. It's weird to actually say it."

Liz blinked rapidly. Max is an alien. I was shot. Max saved my life. I almost died. Her thoughts swirled around in her head. She suddenly felt like she was being suffocated. She needed air. She grabbed her books and bookbag and headed straight for the door.

"Liz--" Max started, his voice full of fear.

She shook her head. "Um, Max, you know, I have, I'm gonna be late for my U.S. government class, so I'm just gonna--" She'd reached the door when Max stopped her from opening it. He leaned against it, staring at her intently. She couldn't meet his eyes. Not right now. She always got lost when she looked into Max's eyes, and right now, she just needed time to think. She could hardly breathe.

"Liz, listen to me," Max said urgently. "You can't talk to anyone about this. Not your parents, not Maria. No one. You don't understand what'll happen if you do. Liz, please," he whispered. She finally looked up at him, and their eyes locked.

Liz's heart thudded in her chest. God, he looked so terrified. Of her? The thought almost killed her.

"Now my life is in your hands," he said quietly.

The words froze her for a moment. Max had saved her life. If she told anyone...she didn't want to think about the consequences. An image of Max, captured in some biology lab, about to be dissected flashed through her mind. It was enough to send her out the door of the band room, running down the hallway. She raced out the doors onto the courtyard of the school, gulping in breaths of fresh air. She just had to think. Had to have time to process. Then she'd figure out what to do.


	2. Chapter 2

Liz took a deep breath as the bell rang for homeroom that afternoon. This was the first time she would see Maria that day, and she was a nervous wreck. How in the world was she going to keep this from her best friend? And from Alex? How was she supposed to pretend that she hadn't been shot, hadn't almost died? And that someone they'd known since third grade had saved her life with a touch, and oh, yeah. Was an alien.

She walked down the hallway, towards the homeroom class, dreading the moment she'd step through the door. Maria had called her a bunch of times the previous night, to check on her. But after Liz had seen the silver hand print on her stomach, and had realized how close to death she'd come, she hadn't really felt like talking. So she hadn't returned any of Maria's messages. She told her parents she was too shaken up to come to the phone, that she just wanted to get some sleep. And they'd left her alone. But Liz hadn't gotten to sleep.

She'd lain awake all night, sitting on her roof, staring at the stars, half the time wondering how on earth she was still alive, and the other half thinking about Max Evans.

But now, now Liz was going to have to see her best friend in the world and pretend like nothing had happened. Like everything was fine.

And the second she stepped through the doorway, everyone began whispering, and looking at her. Maria was talking to a friend, and turned around in her seat to see Liz come in.

Liz avoided her eyes. She couldn't deal with all the questions she knew her friend was going to have, so she did the last thing she'd ever thought she'd do. She walked calmly across the room, ignoring the whispering, and sat down next to Pam Troy, of all people. Then she pulled out a notebook and pen and doodled until homeroom was over. And she didn't give Maria a chance to catch her after class. She all but ran from the room and down the hallway.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Something's wrong with Liz," Maria announced to Alex as she sat down next to him in the cafeteria at lunch that day.

Alex nodded. "I heard about the shooting on the news. I tried to call, but her parents said she was pretty shaken up."

"They told me the same thing."

"And you don't think so?" Alex said in confusion.

"Have you seen her today?" Maria questioned, peering at him closely.

"Yeah, in third period history...She looked okay. She didn't say much when I asked her about what happened."

"Liz was shot, Alex," Maria told him.

He stared at her. "What?"

"I found blood on her order book after she went upstairs to her room last night. She didn't fall and spill ketchup on herself."

Alex shook his head. "Maria, she wasn't shot. She didn't go to the hospital, she's walking around, perfectly fine." He glanced down at the newspaper on the table. "It says right here that shots were fired but no one was injured."

"Then where's Liz? I mean, why is she avoiding me? Okay, first of all, Liz is never late, right? She walks into homeroom and goes sits next to Pam Troy. She like, hates Pam Troy, and you know, like, goes around admitting it openly, and...Alex? Are you listening to me?"

Alex sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Maria, I'm listening to you. But this is just you being you. All right? Liz is fine, nothing happened, it's all right here in black and white."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Liz skipped lunch that day. She had no desire to even be anywhere she could smell food. The thought made her nauseous. She hid out in the biology room instead. What was she going to do? She couldn't avoid Maria and Alex forever. But how was she going to get around telling them what happened?

And what if someone else did find out about Max? What if they turned him in? She replayed in her mind every single detail of what she'd told Sheriff Valenti the previous evening. Had she been convincing? Had he suspected anything? What if she'd messed up and given something away and Max got caught because of her? What would they do to him?

_"You can't talk to anyone about this. Not your parents, not Maria. No one. You don't understand what'll happen if you do. Liz, please," he had whispered. "Now my life is in your hands."_

Liz shuddered, feeling sick again. She didn't want to think about what would happen if anyone ever discovered the truth about who Max really was. He could be captured, put in some cage in a government lab, experimented on...even killed. And all because he'd saved her life. Why? Why had he saved her? Risked everything just so she could live? It just didn't make sense.

Liz rose to her feet and rushed towards the bathroom. She needed to get a grip. She hurried to the sink and turned on the cold water and splashed some on her face. As she straightened, she saw Maria walking up behind her and she swallowed hard. "Hey."

"So I called like, 37 times."

"I know. I'm sorry," Liz said quickly. She grabbed a paper towel and dried her hands and face.

"Liz, what happened?" Maria demanded.

"What do you mean, Maria? You were there, you saw everything." Liz turned away and threw her paper towel in the garbage can.

"Did I? Cause, um, this isn't ketchup." Maria held out the order book she'd pulled out of her purse. "This looks a lot like blood to me."

Liz turned away and headed for the door.

"What did Max do to you?"

She stopped in her tracks. Then she turned to face her. "Nothing. He was just checking to see if I was, you know, okay. I fell, Maria. I broke a bottle of ketchup. I got a minor cut. No big deal. That's why there's blood."

Maria looked at her doubtfully. "Then why have you been avoiding me all day? And Alex? We're your friends, Liz."

Liz's eyes softened. "I know. But nothing happened. I'm okay, really." The bell rang. "I have to get to class. See you later?"

"Yeah. Whatever." Maria walked past her and left the room. Liz sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. Then she took a deep breath and headed to class.

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Liz and Kyle went out that night to see a movie. They always went out to see the lame horror movies. They didn't really focus on the movie, but instead made fun of it the entire time. Liz hadn't made much of an effort to talk during the movie this time. She had barely registered anything Kyle had said, either. She'd stared at the screen, wishing the stupid movie would end so she could go home and be alone.

She hadn't seen Max for the remainder of the day. He had disappeared after she talked to him in the band room that morning. She usually saw him in the hallways, but she had a feeling he'd skipped the rest of the day to avoid being around her. Kind of like what she'd been doing to Maria and Alex.

She sighed in relief when the movie ended, and remained silent as Kyle drove her home. He kept talking, and glancing at her occasionally, but when she never responded back, he finally gave up and let the ride continue in silence. But he insisted on walking her to her door.

When they reached it, Liz took a deep breath and turned to face him. "Good night."

Kyle looked disappointed and a bit...suspicious. "Oh, right. Right. Listen, Liz, you've--you've been somewhere else all night."

"I know. I'm sorry. Kyle, do you ever wonder if..."

"Do I ever wonder what?"

She swallowed hard. She wasn't even sure why she was bringing this up now. "When you see me, do you...do you feel things?"

"Yes, of course. I feel things," Kyle answered immediately. Then a look of confusion crossed his eyes. "Like what?"

She smiled slightly. "Forget it. I don't know what I was talking about. I'm just gonna go get some sleep."

"All right."

She reached up to turn off the light.

"Liz?" Kyle suddenly questioned.

She glanced at him, realized he was staring at her stomach, where her sweater had been raised and she quickly jerked it down. "Good night, Kyle."

He gave her a strange look. "Good night, Liz."

Liz watched him walk back to his car, and she sighed and turned back to the door. Her parents weren't home. On another trip for the restaurant, no doubt. She unlocked the door and stepped inside. Then she began to wonder if Kyle had seen what the mark on her stomach was. If it came down to it, she'd lie. She'd say she'd gotten a tattoo.

She went to her room, grabbed a blanket, and the crawled out her window. She wrapped herself in the comforter and sat down on her lawn chair, staring up at the stars. She wasn't there too long before she heard a voice from down below. "Liz!"

Liz swallowed hard. She knew that voice. She rose to her feet and moved the wall. She looked down at Max Evans, staring up at her. "I have to talk to you," he whispered loudly.

She nodded. "Meet me in front," she said back.

"Okay."

She took a deep breath and left through the back entrance of her house so she could meet him outside.

"Are your parents home?" he asked as she walked up to him.

"Uh...No. They're...away. On business for the cafe."

He nodded. "Can we go inside?"

"Yeah. Sure." She pulled her keys out of her pocket and unlocked the front door of the cafe. They both stepped inside, and Liz turned to face him.

"I can't imagine how you must feel right now. I mean, I've thought about telling you a thousand times," Max told her quietly.

Liz stared at him, surprised. Max Evans had considered telling her the biggest secret of his life more than once? Without being forced to? "You have? Me?"

He smiled and suppressed a laugh.

She frowned. Was he playing some joke on her? "What?"

"Sorry, I just, uh, I just keep picturing you in that dress with the uh, the cupcakes...on it."

Now she was confused. "What?"

"Forget it. It was a long time ago," he assured her, looking embarrassed.

Suddenly an image of the dress flashed through her memory. That hideous, horrible dress that she'd hated the first time she'd lain eyes on it. "Oh, my God. That's, that's right. I can't believe I actually wore that thing!" Then her eyes widened. "I had that dress in kindergarten. I didn't know you until the third grade. Did you like...read my mind or something?" Horrible thoughts ran through her mind. God, what else had he seen? Had he seen the way she felt about him? Had he seen--

"No, I-I don't read minds," Max assured her quickly, moving towards her. "When I healed you, I made this...this, I don't know...this connection. And I got this rush of images. An image of that dress flashed into my mind, and I knew how you felt about it."

She stared at him wide-eyed. He knew how she felt? This was unbelievable. "How did I feel about it?"

"It was the single supreme embarrassment of your life." He paused, and she stared at him in amazement. "But your mom made it for you. She was so proud of it. She'd never made a dress before. So you wore it...For her sake." His voice was so soft, gentle, that Liz began to relax. She nodded to let him know he was right. Then he took another few steps towards her. "I've never tried this before, but maybe I can make the connection go the other way. So you can see, you know, that I'm still me."

He was standing right in front of her. Liz felt her heart race increase as he stared down at her, awaiting her answer. "I have to touch you," he whispered.

Unable to speak, Liz just nodded. Max gently touched her face, cupping it in his hands until they were staring directly into one another's eyes. "Now just take deep breaths and try to let your mind blank out," he told her softly.

Suddenly, her mind exploded with an image of six year old Max Evans and his sister Isabel, walking in the desert. There were headlights and then both kids turned around to look. Max appeared terrified.

Then she saw Max and Isabel getting off the school bus on the first day of third grade. She could feel everything he was feeling. She felt his loneliness, his fear and confusion. Then suddenly she saw herself on the playground, the first person that Max had laid eyes on that day. And her younger self looked up at him, and smiled. They stared at each other for a long moment.

Then the image changed. To just a few weeks ago, when she'd stood at her locker, laughing and talking to Maria. And she was amazed by what she saw. She didn't see herself as average Liz who was semi-popular. She saw herself laughing, looking happy. But above all, she looked beautiful.

Liz's eyes filled with tears as the images stopped. She felt a rush of compassion and sympathy and love for Max, the wonderful guy she'd known since the third grade. The wonderful guy who had saved her life.

"Did it work?" Max asked nervously, gazing down at her.

She couldn't find the words to say what she was feeling, so she just nodded. Max looked away, blushing slightly. She reached out and touched his arm. He looked at her hand, and then met her eyes. Then they both smiled.

"I have to go home now," he said softly.

"Okay. I'll see you at school." She watched as he turned to go. He turned to look at her, and smiled again. She smiled back. Then he disappeared into the night.


	3. Chapter 3

Liz looked around her bedroom, picking up the pillows on her bed and tossing them into a pile on the floor. When she still couldn't find what she was looking for, she threw open the doors to her closet and began digging through the piles of clothes and shoes on the floor.

Where was it?

She tried to think back to the last place she'd had it, but her mind was so jumbled with thoughts she couldn't concentrate.

Max Evans thinks I'm beautiful. Maria isn't speaking to me. Max Evans is an alien. I have geometry homework due tomorrow morning that I haven't started. Max Evans saved my life. Kyle saw the silver hand print on my stomach...

Liz forced herself to close her eyes and take a deep breath. She knew she was lacking in the sleep department, and she really needed to rest if she was ever going to think clearly again. She threw back the blankets on her bed and crawled under the covers. She'd worry about her bookbag in the morning.

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Alex sat on his back porch, strumming his guitar, though his thoughts weren't really on the music tonight. He leaned his head back against the railing and stared up at the stars. He thought about his conversation with Maria earlier.

"Liz was shot, Alex," Maria told him.

He stared at her. "What?"

"I found blood on her order book after she went upstairs to her room last night. She didn't fall and spill ketchup on herself."

Of course, there was no possible way that Liz had been shot. Maria was definitely wrong about that. If Liz had been shot, she'd be in the hospital, not walking around school perfectly fine the very next day.

But there was a big difference between blood and ketchup.

So maybe, if she fell and broke a ketchup bottle on herself, she just got cut. That would explain the blood. But why would she lie about it?

Alex sighed and gazed up at the stars in the sky that seemed to make a V. Funny, he had never noticed that constellation before.

He shook his head and strummed his guitar again.

Liz had been acting kind of weird all day. She'd all but ignored him during third period history, and they always talked before class started. And Maria had mentioned that Liz had been late to homeroom, and that when she had come in, she'd sat next to Pam Troy. Something was definitely wrong.

Alex debated giving her a call and checking to see if she was okay. Maybe she's just depressed over something with Kyle, he thought. Then he looked at his watch. It was after 11. She was probably already sleeping, which was what he should be doing right now, too. He stood up and carried his guitar inside and headed to his room. He placed the guitar in its case and dropped onto his bed.

He'd talk to her tomorrow.

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Maria lay awake, staring at the ceiling with the glow-in-the-dark stars she'd put up there almost three years ago.

Why wouldn't Liz talk to her?

They never kept secrets from each other. They never even kept secrets from Alex...well, minus the usual strictly girls stuff, like PMS and bras. But those weren't really secrets, just stuff they didn't talk about around him because they didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

But now it was like Liz didn't trust her or Alex either one.

They'd been like sisters since the first grade. Maria trusted Liz more than she trusted her own mother. Not that she didn't love her mother, but some things you just can't talk to your parents about. Or, in her case, parent.

It made her angry. She told Liz everything about her life--from the most important things to the most minute of details.

And Liz had always done the same thing.

Now suddenly she wouldn't even tell Maria what time of day it was.

Maria sighed in frustration and turned to stare at the glowing red digits of her alarm clock. If it wasn't 1 in the morning, she'd call Alex and complain to him, but she had a feeling he was probably already unconscious.

She wished she was.

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Liz looked around the band room. She didn't think she'd left her bag in here, but it was the last place she actually remembered having it. She sighed when she didn't see it, her frown deepening. She was so lost in thought trying to remember where she'd put her bag that she didn't hear the door open.

"Hey."

Liz turned around and swallowed hard as she saw who it was. "Oh, hey, Alex. Have you seen my bookbag anywhere?"

"No, I haven't," he said quietly, taking a few steps closer to her, fiddling with the straps on his own bookbag. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

She took a deep breath and forced her voice to remain calm. "Yeah, what's up?"

Alex hesitated. "Well, I'm your friend, and I'm Maria's friend, too...so if you lie to Maria, it's sort of like lying to me."

"Alex, what did Maria say to you?" Liz was almost afraid of his answer.

"Well, frankly, it's vague. I mean, everything needs to be put through the Maria-filter..." He chuckled nervously, and she smiled back, knowing Alex was struggling to make what he was saying sound normal. "But she said something about how she found blood on your order book. What's going on?"

Liz met his concerned eyes, but only for a second, unable to lie to him while looking him in the eyes. "Alex, Maria is a total drama queen. You know that. Nothing is going on."

He didn't look convinced. "Okay...well, look. All I care about is that you're okay. So you're--you are, right? You're okay?"

She felt an immense wave of guilt wash over her. She hated lying to him, but she didn't have a choice. Not when Max's life depended on it. "I'm okay," she said, forcing herself to smile.

"All right." Alex looked a bit relieved, not convinced, but relieved.

"Okay," she said.

He started for the door. "And whatever happened is...over now?"

"It is totally over."

Alex smiled. "Okay."

"Okay," she echoed.

Just as he reached the door to leave, it swung open, and the vice-principal stepped inside, along with one of Roswell's deputies. "There she is," Mr. Grindy said, nodding to Liz.

"Ms. Parker," the deputy said. "The sheriff needs to ask you some questions."

Liz felt her heart stop for a second, and then she nodded. "Okay." She walked over to the door, remaining as calm as she could, and only glancing at Alex out of the corner of her eye as she followed the deputy outside into the hallway.

Alex was right behind her. "Liz?" he said, his voice barely audible, and his eyes wide.

She gave him a brief smile and shrugged her shoulders. "Probably about what happened at the Cafe. No big deal. See you later, Alex." She forced herself to walk and not look back at him. But she knew he was staring after her.

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Liz sat nervously on the chair in Sheriff Valenti's office, staring out the window. She heard him come inside a moment later, carrying a file and closing the door behind him. He nodded at her. "Afternoon, Ms. Parker. Your father said it would be all right if I talked to you." He sat down at his desk, and pulled out a couple of black and white photographs. He laid them on his desk in front of her. "I'm sorry to have to show you these."

Liz leaned forward in her chair, and stared at the pictures. It was of a dead body. Her throat constricted for a second and she couldn't breathe. In the left hand corner of one of the photos was written November, 1959. She blinked in confusion. 1959? What did that have to do with her?

"This man was found dead, no apparent cause of death. Except that," he said, pointing to a mark on the man's chest. "What do you make of that mark?"

Ohmygod, she thought, her mind racing. It was a silver hand print...just like the one that Max had left on her stomach after he healed her...

It took her a second to realize that the sheriff was waiting for an answer. She steeled her nerves, hoping he couldn't see her trembling. "I have never seen anything like that before."

"Kyle said he saw a similar mark on your stomach." Sheriff Valenti leaned back in his chair and stared at her.

"He was wrong," she answered immediately.

"I'm sure. Kyle's got a pretty wild imagination." He paused. "I'm gonna need to see for myself, Liz."

Liz stared back at him. "Come on, Sheriff. I mean, I told you that I spilled ketchup, and I...I said that like a thousand times." Her stomach was turning.

"Liz, please?"

She forced back the revulsion she felt as she stood up and slid her shirt up so he could look at her stomach. She held her breath as the sheriff stared at her bare skin. Then he looked up at her face. Liz glanced down and said a silent thanks that the hand print had faded away when it had...one day sooner and she wouldn't have been able to show him that there was no mark...

She slid her shirt back down and sat back down in the chair.

"The mark faded on the corpse, too. What do you know about a kid named Max Evans?" He watched her closely for her reaction.

Liz frowned. "Max Evans?"

"Mm hmm."

"Um...I don't really know him...all that well."

"Was he one of the kids at the Crashdown that day?"

"No," she said without hesitation, shaking her head.

"I see."

"Can I go home now, Sheriff?" she asked, her voice sounding a lot calmer than she felt.

"Just one more thing." He pulled something out of his desk drawer and set it on top of his desk. "Somebody turned in this bookbag. It is yours, isn't it?"

Her gaze drifted to the bookbag, and she nodded slowly. There was no sense in denying it. That bookbag had her waitress uniform in it, and the uniform had her name tag on it. If she lied, it would make him even more suspicious. "It's mine."

Sheriff Valenti studied her.

"I can have it back now, can't I?" Liz asked, meeting his eyes, her own eyes cold.

"Of course. It is yours." He motioned for her to take it.

She picked it up and slid her arms through the straps. "Good afternoon, Sheriff." She turned and walked out of his office, out of the police station and into the parking lot before she let out the breath she'd been holding. Then she quickly slid the back pack off her arms and pulled the zipper open with shaking hands. Everything was there: her books, folders and calculator. The only thing missing was her waitress uniform.

Her waitress uniform that had a bullet hole right in the middle of it.

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"Liz, what's wrong?" Max asked as he followed her down the hallway out of wrestling practice.

She didn't answer him. She kept walking, and he kept following, until she pushed open the doors to the empty art room and all but flung her bookbag off her back. Her actions were angry, but it wasn't really anger propelling her forward as she turned to face him. She was shaken up, frightened.

"I need to know the truth, Max. I need to know everything. Or I'll--I'm just gonna go to Valenti, and I'm gonna tell him everything I know." Her words sounded threatening, but they both knew she was lying.

"Okay," he said softly.

She was almost surprised by his response. "Okay," she repeated. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of paper, unfolded it and looked at whatever she'd written. "Okay. All right. Here we go. Where did you come from?"

"I don't know," Max answered honestly. "When the ship crashed, I wasn't born yet."

"So there was a crash?"

"All I know is it wasn't a weather balloon that fell that night."

She stared at him, the doubt obvious in her voice as she spoke. "The ship crashed in 1947. You're 16."

"We were in some kind of incubation pods."

"We?" she repeated.

"Isabel and Michael are also...uh..."

Liz swallowed hard and nodded. "Okay, well, that, answers, um, that question. Um, what powers...do you have?"

"We can connect with people, as uh, you know..." He smiled, looking a bit embarrassed. "We can manipulate molecular structures, and we can..."

"Wait," she interrupted. "What does that mean?"

Max started to say something, but closed his mouth and moved over to a clay statue and put his hands over it. His hands glowed as he moved them over the clay, and the clay went back to looking like a large lumpy potato. He shifted it back to what it had looked like as Liz watched in amazement, her eyes wide.

"That's, uh...that's how I healed you," he said softly.

"Max, who else knows this?"

"No one," he answered immediately.

"What about your parents?" she asked. How could they have possibly kept this a secret for all these years without a single person finding out? How could Max and Isabel's and Michael's parents not know?

"We don't tell anyone. We sorta think our lives depend on it."

It dawned on her then exactly how much danger Max was in. "So when you healed me, you risked all of this getting out, didn't you?" she asked softly.

"Yeah."

Liz shook her head, not understanding. Why would he risk his own life, the lives of his sister and best friend to save hers? "Why?"

Max gazed at her. "It was you."

She stared back at him, unable to breath for a second. She bit her lip, and then she remembered what else she had to tell him. "Um, Max, Valenti showed me this photo of a corpse. A murder victim. It had the same silver handprint on its chest." She moved closer to him.

Max stared down at her, shaking his head. "But that can't be."

"The photo was marked 1959."

"That's impossible!"

She saw the devastation in his eyes, but she knew she had to tell him the rest of it, warn him of the danger he was now in because of her. "Kyle saw the hand print on my stomach and Valenti found my waitress uniform with the bullet hole in it. He just asked me if you were in the cafe the day of the shooting. Max, he suspects you."

Max turned to leave.

"Max!"

"I have to to go!" he called over his shoulder as she ran out the door.

She raced after him. "Max, wait! Go where? Where are you going?" She ran out into the hallway. "Max, wait! Max!"

Before she could follow him any farther, a group of students dressed for the crash festival that evening nearly trampled her over and she lost sight of him.

Liz sighed and stared down the corridor.

Now what?


	4. Chapter 4

Liz sat cross-legged on her bed, looking down at her geometry notebook. She was making a feeble effort to concentrate on how to work proofs when her bed suddenly bounced and she looked up.

Maria DeLuca was standing on her bed, staring down at her with a determined look in her eyes. She was already dressed for the Crash, and she was wearing a pretty green outfit with lots of make up and designs on it. If it had been anyone else but Maria, the costume would have looked ridiculous, but somehow she pulled it off and managed to look great.

Uh oh, Liz thought. She recognized the look in her friend's eyes and realized she was about to catch hell.

"Before I got to this idiotic Crash Festival, I want to know everything. And if you don't tell me the truth right now, I'm going to go to Valenti myself and tell him everything I know."

"What do you know?" Liz asked carefully.

"Well," Maria stepped off her bed and stood on solid ground. "Uh...I-I know that Max was in the diner that day, and I know that he went up to you when you were shot, and like, did something to you." She paused and then looked Liz right in the eyes. "And I know that the one person in the world that I thought I could completely trust, is lying to me."

Liz saw the flash of pain in Maria's eyes, and recognized the waver in her voice and realized she wasn't far off from crying. She thought about all the times when she had needed someone to talk to, how Maria had always been there for her, had always taken her side no matter what the circumstances. She was a good friend...the best friend she'd ever had, along with Alex. And she also knew that Maria wasn't kidding when she said she'd go to Valenti. She had to protect Max.

And there was only one way she could do that right now.

Liz moved her books aside and scooted forward on the bed. She took a deep breath. "You have to promise me that you are not going to flip out."

Maria looked at her like she was crazy. "Flip out? Hey, it's me."

"Close the bedroom door," Liz said quickly.

Without a word, Maria closed the door and locked it, and then turned to face Liz, her arms folded across her chest. "What's going on?"

Liz stood up. "You're right...about that day at the Crashdown...I was shot."

"I knew it!" Maria cried. Then she stared at Liz. "But...how is that possible?"

"Max healed me," she said quietly.

"How?"

Liz could tell her friend was turning over every new age healing technique in her brain, trying to come up with the most likely treatment that had saved Liz's life. "Sit down."

"Uh-uh. You're stalling."

"Maria, trust me. You should sit down." Liz had known Maria for a very long time, and she knew that she'd be freaked out, if only for a brief period of time, when she found out the truth.

She finally perched on the edge of Liz's desk. "Okay, shoot." She grimaced. "Bad pun."

"He's an alien."

Maria started laughing. "Right." She laughed harder, doubling over and clutching her stomach as she snorted. "An alien. Max Evans."

Liz waited patiently for her to calm down, and when she did, and saw how serious Liz was, her face grew pale.

"This is a joke, right?" She walked over to Liz's closet and pulled on the doors. "Alex is in here hiding and you're playing a practical joke on me." When she opened the closet doors and saw no one was inside, she shook her head. "Alex, come out from under the bed!"

"Maria, Alex isn't here. He doesn't know." Liz waited again.

Maria turned to face her, edging towards the door. "This isn't funny."

"It's not supposed to be." Liz took a deep breath. "It's true, Maria. He was in the 1947 crash and he was in some sort of like...incubation pod. When his parents found him, he was out wandering in the desert, and--"

At that second, Maria raised her hands to her mouth, screamed, unlocked the door and bolted.

Liz sighed and then ran after her. "Maria!" She raced down the stairs of the Crashdown and out the front door. She finally caught up with her at Maria's car. "Okay, Maria, just calm down, okay? He saved my life, he didn't hurt me."

"Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod," Maria was muttering as she fumbled for her car keys and unlocked the door.

Liz sighed again and climbed in the car as soon as Maria had unlocked it. She looked over at her friend, her face was pale and her hands were shaking.

Maria started the car and pulled onto the road.

Liz wondered if Maria even knew where she was headed.

"Liz, Liz, what happened to you? You were on this whole like, valedictorian path. You were on your way to be like, this world renowned scientist, and I was gonna be your wacky friend. I can't be a wacky friend to someone who's already wacky. It'd be like repetitious --"

"Maria, you're babbling," Liz calmly pointed out.

"I think I've earned the right to babble, all right? So just deal with it."

Liz looked out the window and recognized the jeep as it drove by going the opposite direction. He hasn't left town! she thought excitedly. "Oh my god, Maria! That's them! Cut a U-ie!"

"Cut a U-ie?" Maria repeated, shaking her head in shock.

"Maria!" Liz said urgently, turning around to look at the jeep.

"Who are you? I mean--"

There was no other choice. Liz grabbed the steering wheel and turned it sharply to the right as Maria shrieked. "Oh, my god! You're a crazy person!"

"Maria, I am not! Please, just catch them!" she pleaded.

"Catch them? Liz, we're in a jetta!"

Liz could see them up ahead and she grabbed onto the safety bar on the door and held on as Maria sped up. She watched as they turned down an alley and then Maria pulled in behind them.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Maria muttered.

Liz and Maria simultaneously climbed out of the car and headed down the alley, towards the jeep where Max, Michael and Isabel where getting out and walking towards them now.

"What are they doing here? No, don't tell me there's three," Maria said, shaking her head and moving closer to Liz's side.

"Well..." Liz trailed off.

"I think I'm gonna be sick."

Then they were standing face to face with them. "Maria knows," Liz admitted quietly.

"Unbelievable," Michael muttered, a look of utter disgust on his face.

"Look, I promise I won't tell anyone," Maria said, not looking at him.

Michael moved forward and Maria moved so she was standing behind Liz. "Get your car out of the way now."

"I really don't think that you should try to leave. It's just gonna show people that you're guilty." Liz mentally kicked herself. That hadn't come out quite like she'd meant it to.

"Guilty of what? Saving your life?" Michael demanded, glaring at her.

"Michael," Max warned, stepping forward.

"Look, I think I have an idea here. If we can just all work together here, maybe we can throw Valenti off," Liz interrupted, not wanting to be the cause of a fight between Max and his best friend.

"We're not together. Our lives are at stake, not yours," Michael said harshly. "Now move your car." He was glaring at her and Liz had never felt so hated in her life. All she wanted to do was help. Didn't he understand that?"

"Michael, this can't last forever. This secret. And I don't want it to," Max said softly.

Liz saw the hurt in his eyes, and remembered the waves of loneliness she had felt from him when he'd reversed the connection between them. It was almost unbearable for her to think anyone could be that lonely. Especially someone as wonderful as Max Evans. She was going to protect him, or do her hardest to try. "Look, I can't change what happened. But if your run, Valenti is gonna know it's you. You'll be proving it for him."

"She's right," Max agreed.

"I should've known you'd side with her," Isabel muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Isabel, I'm not on anyone's side, all right?" Max looked over at her, the hurt in his eyes deepening.

"Well, get on a side, Max, because time is running out!" she snapped.

Liz watched as Max seemed to fight an inner struggle, his eyes saddened. Finally, he turned and spoke directly to her. "She should move her car."

She stared at him, desperately wanting to talk him out of it, feeling as though her own insides were being torn apart.

Then Max turned to Michael and his sister. "I'm turning myself into Valenti."

Liz's mouth dropped open, and she was about to protest when Michael, looking as shocked as she felt, turned to him. "Max, we said we were leaving."

Isabel shook her head, looking more upset than Liz had ever seen her. "Max, I can't leave without you." She met her brother's eyes and then with a sigh and a look of barely-tamed anger, she turned to Liz. "What's your idea?"

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Alex wandered around the Crash Festival, listening to the music and watching as the people danced and partied. Usually he looked forward to this festival. But usually he didn't wind up going alone.

He wasn't even sure why he'd come this year. He knew Liz had made plans with Kyle to meet here. Not that she'd have paid attention to him even if she hadn't been meeting Kyle. She'd been virtually ignoring him for the past week. Anytime he tried to talk to her, she gave him the brush off. And Maria had been so angry and upset about the whole Liz thing all week, he didn't figure she'd even want to come to the festival tonight.

Alex sighed and re-adjusted the alien head of his costume. It was a stupid costume and he felt like a dork wearing it and walking around alone, but it wasn't any worse than what anyone else was wearing. At least he wasn't sitting at home bored.

"Nice mask, Alex," a voice said.

He stopped and looked. Isabel Evans had spoken to him. Wait--how did she know that it was him with his costume?

Who cares? Don't miss your chance to talk to her, he told himself.

Alex pulled off the mask and quickly caught up with them. "Isabel, hey." He did a double-take when he realized who was walking with Isabel. "Maria?"

Maria laughed nervously. "Hey."

The girls kept walking, as if not wanting to be bothered. "Uh, nice cones," he said to Isabel, who smiled briefly and continued walking.

Alex stopped following them and stared after them.

Nice cones? Had he really just said that aloud? To Isabel Evans?

And what was Maria doing with Isabel anyway?

He frowned in confusion and shook his head. Then he turned around and walked the other way. First Liz was acting weird and ignoring him, and now Maria was hanging out with Isabel. Something was definitely wrong here.

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Alex walked back to his car a little while later. What a waste tonight had been. He remembered last year, when he, Liz and Maria had all gone to the Crash Festival together and they'd had a blast. Apparently they'd both forgotten about it. He pulled his car keys out of the costumes pocket and started to unlock the car door when he heard the sound of squealing brakes.

A second later a scream pierced the air. "Maria!"

He froze, recognizing the voice instantly. Liz.

"Oh god," he said as he raced through the lines of parked cars, weaving his way to where he'd heard the scream. "Please be okay, please be okay."

Alex finally came to the clearing of cars, and his heart nearly stopped as he saw Maria lying on the ground, someone in a god-awful costume kneeling over her, a hand on her neck. He ran over. "What's going on? What are you--what are you doing?" he demanded, about to grab the guy's arm.

The guy wearing the costume stood up suddenly and shoved him backwards, hard. Alex toppled over onto the ground, the wind being knocked out of him.

"What happened here?" Sheriff Valenti demanded, hurrying over and kneeling down next to Maria. He touched her throat, searching for a pulse. "Are you okay?"

Maria sat up slowly, blinking her eyes. "Yeah, I think so."

Alex stared at her, and then looked up at Liz, who was also staring at her.

"There he goes! Sheriff, there he is! There's the guy who went up to her, that's him!" One of the Sheriff's deputies said urgently, pointing to the guy who was running into the crowd.

Valenti stood up. "Watch the kid." And off he ran, after the guy who had been kneeling above Maria.

Alex rushed to Maria's side and put an arm around her. "Can you stand up? Should I call an ambulance?"

"No...I'm all right," Maria said quickly, looping her arm around his waist and allowing him to help her to her feet. She was shaking like a leaf.

"What happened?" he asked.

Maria threw a glance at Liz and then shook her head. "I--I don't know...I don't--I don't remember."

Alex saw the silver hand print on her chest. "Uh-Maria?"

She looked down and gasped, her eyes widening. She started to sway on her feet and Alex pulled her into a hug, trying to calm her down. "It's okay. It's okay," he murmured. He looked over her head to Liz who was watching him. He thought he saw a bit of guilt in her eyes, but a second later it vanished and was replaced by concern.

"Maria! Are you all right?" She hurried forward and Maria left Alex's arms and stepped into Liz's. Liz hugged her tightly, but wouldn't look at him.

Alex frowned and then looked up at the deputy who was holding Max Evans by the arm. He realized then that Max was in handcuffs, and his frown changed into a look of pure shock. Max Evans was being arrested?

"Alex, can you take Maria home?" Liz asked, still not looking him in the eyes.

He blinked. "Shouldn't we take her to the hospital?"

"No--I just--I want to go home," Maria insisted.

"Yeah, sure, I'll take you home. Let's go." He slid his arm around her waist and then looked back at Liz. "Liz, do you need a ride?"

"Uh...no. I'm going to get a ride from Kyle," she said vaguely. She turned and walked away.

Alex stared after her for a moment. Then he turned his attention back to Maria. "Let's get you home. Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah, thanks." She leaned against him and closed her eyes as he helped her over to his car.

"I'll give you a ride to pick up your car tomorrow," he offered.

"That'd be great."

"Maria--what happened?"

"I told you...I don't know."

She wouldn't look him in the eyes either.

Yep, he thought. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

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Liz stared up at the sky and saw the shining silver stars. She hoped that one day she wouldn't have to keep the truth from her other best friend, but for now...

Now she had to keep Max and Isabel and Michael safe. And she'd already involved Maria. Now Maria was in danger, too. She had to keep Alex out of harm's way. She owed him that much. Maybe one day they wouldn't have to worry about throwing Valenti off track and Alex could know the truth. Maybe the six of them could become one big happy family.

She looked down over the crowd from where she was standing on the hill and watched as the people cheered as the reenactment of the 1947 Crash took place, throwing the fake alien bodies out of the ship.

Liz suddenly felt sick to her stomach and she looked away. How could they cheer about something like that?

"Hey," a voice said behind her.

She turned around and smiled as Max walked up to her. "Hey."

He reached up and she held perfectly still, watching his eyes as he moved a strand of hair out of her face.

"Oh," she said softly.

"You had a...uh..."

"Hair thing. Right. Thanks."

"Sure." Max stared at her and their eyes locked. He moved away, but just a very small fraction of an inch. "Liz, it's not safe. I mean, for you and...and me to...it's not safe."

She shook her head. "I don't care." And she didn't. Safety be damned, Max had saved her life and she wasn't ever going to forget that.

He smiled, a tiny smile, but one that made her heart leap. "Liz, I really, really wish that this could be something, you know...more. But it can't. We're just...."

"Different," Liz finished. Max might be an alien, but he was more human than most people she knew. Differences just didn't matter.

"Yeah," he agreed. He stepped away from her. "I'll see you at school."

Liz watched as he started to walk away, and suddenly something hit her. "Max!"

He turned to look a her.

"I never got to thank you. For saving my life." She met his eyes and he smiled again.

"Thank you," he whispered softly. Then he walked away, down the hill and disappeared into the crowd.

Liz watched him go, suddenly filled with renewed hope.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Liz looked down at her journal and scratched the pen across it.

_It's September 24th. I'm Liz Parker and five days ago I died. But then the really amazing thing happened. I came to life._

She put her pen down and hugged her journal close to her, smiling as she looked up at the stars. She had a feeling this year was going to turn out to be more interesting than she ever could have imagined.


End file.
